Rift
by sevenluck
Summary: It began on a summer afternoon in 1967. It ended on the Hogwarts grounds in June, 1976. This is the story of their friendship, and of their separation. It is a story of their rift.
1. Thirty Years Ago

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**R I F T**

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" _These violent delights have violent ends_

_And, in their triumph die, like fire and powder_

_Which, as they kiss, consume. "_

– _Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene VI_

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Chapter 1

Thirty Years Ago

I remember when I first saw her. I remember it, even as a battle sieges outside the fragile glass panes of the old inn, as I look out of it to the silhouette of the ancient castle in the twilight. A fiery, vibrant red flares out of the black upon the rolling knoll the school is situated on, and again my old memories call softly to me, alluringly. The shouts, the cries, the explosions and screams are vague and distant from where I stand behind the glazed windows. What a dastard I would have looked, standing aside in the shadows as the faint flashes of curses illuminate my worn face, again and again. A murmur of a strangled yell whispers in my ear, begging for the help that will not come. She cries for help, for she is injured, or her loved one is injured, but no one will stop for her. The battle rages on and her single shout is silenced as a hooded and masked man easily claims her life.

I lay my hand upon the sill, the veins protruding from the flesh in a way it does in times of stress. I suddenly feel aware of my surroundings, and the sounds around me dim, the deathly sounds of the battle. I hear the sighs of my breath in the deafening stillness: slow, balanced, and unmoving. It did not catch; it simply continued and was even in the silence. The subtle beat of my heart echoed in my chest, tapping gently to a measured pace. Above I could hear the creaks of the floorboards as someone or something shifted their feet, and below in the street there began the serenade of a lone cricket, his melodic chirps sending me into the past by thirty years. And I remembered the day I first saw her.

Thirty years ago his countenance had not yet been carved of the harsh commodities that had forced themselves upon his life. When Severus Snape was only seven years of age his eyes were still black, his hair straggly and unwashed, his frame slight. In difference his face was rounded with, as well, a bit more color in the cheeks, and there was that light in his eyes that held the essence of both curiosity and innocence. It was around this age that Severus found himself to be capable of extraordinary happenings, most of them peppered about randomly over the term at his boarding school. On one chilly day in Humanities, Severus had received a terribly low mark on a test, to his utter dismay. When he had stormed away towards the door to leave, the door swung outwards abruptly as he approached it, as if by its own volition; the door did not rebound against the wall but stood wide open, quite stiff. It took the teacher a few good tugs on the handle to get the door to close, watching as the one student he could never quite understand rounded the corner.

Most of the children at the school shied away from Severus, save but for Timothy Heron, who always seemed to be impressed by the strange boy. Timothy Heron lived near Spinner's End where Severus lived, but it was only until he and Severus started having classes together in Junior school did they start to make friends. They regularly went over to the neighborhood playground to play and talk whenever there was time, spending hour after hour chatting and playing tag under the sun.

It was one summer afternoon in 1967, an hour or so before it would start to get dark, when Severus was sent out of the house by his mother; she was having friends over, and she thought it would be best for Severus just to take a walk rather than sit out lengthy conversations over a steaming cup of tea. Severus instinctually made for the playground, where he met Heron, sitting absent-mindedly on a swing.

"Hey SS," Heron greeted brightly, giving Severus a wide smile that showed one of his missing teeth. Heron then pointed to the empty swing next to him for Severus to sit in. After Severus had done so and was lightly rocking with the wind, Heron asked in a half-excited, half-nervous voice, "You know what I did today?"

"What'd you do?" Severus asked keenly, his dark eyes looking over at the brown-haired, bespectacled boy.

"I—" Heron hesitated, as if either unsure of how to describe it or afraid to speak it out loud, "well, I made my mum's rose bush disappear. I mean," he added hastily, because Severus was giving him a pointed look, "I didn't touch it. It was just… gone."

Severus was quiet for a moment before answering, gently swinging back and forth, his long fingers grasping the warm, slightly rusted chains that held the swings up. It was a humid and rather balmy summer day, and even as the sun had started to shrink farther down into the sky behind the clouds, it was still cooking hot in the small British district.

"Was your mother upset?" Severus finally asked, frowning.

"About the bush? Yeah, she really liked it, gift from my grandmother. She blamed the dog about it going missing–"

"No," Severus interrupted, "I mean, was your mother angry at you before it had disappeared?"

"Well…" Heron shifted uncomfortably, looking at his sandaled feet, "it was the usual 'clean your room or else!' talk, and I hadn't, and she was all yelling at me, and I asked her what did it matter about whether my room was clean or not? Because, after all, it's my room, and I'm very well sure Uncle Grant and Aunt Bonnie aren't going to go wandering into my room…"

"How are you sure the dog really hadn't dug it up?" Severus questioned.

"Well," Heron said again (for he seemed to be quite fond of the word 'well'), "I had to clean my room in the end because Mum was down my back about it, and after that she sent me out in the garden to play with the dog. But really I wasn't doing much except looking around, because my dog's really old and hasn't got any more spirit in him to play. And then when I was looking over at the rose bush it vanished, just like that." Heron opened his hands with a kind of flicking motion, imitating the flowers vanishing by his own influence.

"I'm pretty sure I did it," continued Heron, looking up at Severus, "I mean, I don't know what happened, but it's sort of what you did in school, right? But really, I mean, I blinked, and the next second, it wasn't there anymore."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure it's similar to what happens at school," Severus said in his quiet voice, his eyes wandering over the playground to a lone figure approaching from across the street.

The figure turned out to be a girl, and by the looks of it, she seemed to be a bit older than Severus. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was pulled up into a tight pony-tail, and it bounced up and down as she meandered along. Heron eventually took notice of the girl and called out a greeting to her, but, with a haughty look, she scowled at him and made for the slide.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," muttered Heron, watching resentfully as the girl climbed the ladder. "Well, I've seen her around, though. She and her sister come here a lot–" Heron eyed the blonde-haired girl again, "– but she's never liked me much, not even when I let her win at tag."

Severus looked up at the girl, who was standing on her tip-toes and looking out on the top of the playground down the street. After a few seconds of what appeared to be a fruitless search, she gave up, and then came down the slide; her sundress caught on the edge of the slide when she reached the bottom, however, snagging her and nearly making her fall over.

Heron burst into raucous laughter and Severus watched with maybe a flicker of a smile on his mouth, but neither went to help her.

"Stop laughing!" the girl snapped, tugging the dress free and glaring at Heron. "You're so immature, just like all boys are!"

"Come on, Pet, I'm sorry. But that was pretty funny; it's not every day I see you tripping up."

The girl sniffed angrily, her arms crossed tightly as she stared defiantly at Heron.

"Don't call me Pet," she told him flatly.

"Okay, then, Tuney," Heron shot back cheekily with a grin.

The girl gave him a threatening look, glowering at him through the tiny slits of her eyes. Eventually she took notice of Severus; in a voice with relish, she sniped, "You have friends, Timothy?"

"Well, yes, in fact, I do." Heron said, his freckled cheeks burning. He then motioned to Severus.

"This is SS."

"Severus Snape," Severus affirmed to the girl, tilting his head at her.

The girl was now staring at Severus's clothes, which were all very baggy; the monstrous jacket he wore over his shoulders looked like it was swallowing him whole. She seemed to decide not to comment on Severus's views of fashion and instead replied in a contemptuous voice, "I actually feel sorry for you."

"Why's that?" Severus asked casually, as if he didn't care for the answer.

"The first one's pretty obvious, but for another…" The girl's eyes slid from Severus's clothes over to Heron, who was bent over tying the laces of his two shoes together for fun. "Well," she continued with a petite little cough, "there's the other."

Now Severus looked at the girl with a sparking dislike within him, and he said smoothly, "You know who I feel sorry for? The people who are friends with you."

The girl glared insolently at Severus, her eyes narrowed as closely together as possible to still be able to see through them, her hands clenched tightly at her sides.

"Where d'you live?" she spat suddenly at him in similar likeness to a teacher shooting a question at his students in a pop quiz.

"Spinner's End," Severus answered curtly.

"Oh." It was all she said.

There was a stiff silence in which the wind swept over the small playground, gently stirring the vacant swings and disturbing the grass; the sun was now below the clouds on the horizon, the last few rays sending the clouds into brilliant shades of red, orange, and purple. The scene distracted Severus for a few moments, the last few seconds of daylight slipping away before his eyes.

A cricket began to softly play, and it was joined by several others. A creaking sort of sound joined the vibrant chirps, and Severus saw that Heron had started to swing back and forth, his shoes successfully tied together. The girl, on the other hand, was starting to look a little anxious. Her arms were folded again and she was tapping her foot; if she had had a watch, Severus was sure she would have been checking it constantly.

All of a sudden, a shout rang out from the left: "Tuney!" The high-pitched voice echoed from down the street, and, from the last rays of light, Severus saw another girl. She was running down the street, a bright smile upon her face, flaming red hair flying behind her.

The blonde-haired girl went out of the playground fence to meet the other with an unmistakable scowl.

"Where've you been?" she snapped, irritable. "I've been waiting for you here for hours…"

"But I didn't know where you were, Tuney!" replied the red-haired girl earnestly, who was shorter than her elder. "Besides, it's not been that long."

"Come on, it's dark," said the other sniffily, "Mummy and Daddy will be worried."

Their voices began to grow faint as the two girls began to walk away down the street. Severus looked after them until he could no longer make out their outline, his expression that of curiosity.

Heron was still busy swinging back and forth, whistling as he did so. Severus could feel the wind rush past him every time Heron made a pass, Heron's tune growing louder and then softer as he swung by.

Eventually, Severus spoke.

"Was that her sister, Heron?"

Heron dragged his feet noisily on the asphalt and jumped out of the swing. He turned to Severus and bent over again, untying the laces so that his shoes were free and then retying them to their proper owners, and as he did so he talked in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Yep, that was her little and way friendlier sister, Lily. Well, Petunia, on the other hand, is a real show, as I'm sure you noticed. I can't say two words without her shrieking at me. They both live a little ways down the road and I think they go to a different school than us… An independent school, I'm sure."

Severus stood, as well. He still had a strange, lingering expression upon his face, as if he wanted to know more about the girl he had only briefly seen. It was much like getting a glimpse of something wonderful and then having it snatched out from under your nose before you could have a proper look.

It might have been the dark or he was simply oblivious, but Heron did not take note of his friend's rather distant expression.

"Well, it's late. I'm going to head home, are you coming with?"

"All right," replied Severus, a little late in reaction.

They set off out of the playground and then crossed the street, Heron talking in a loud voice about a girl at school that reminded him strongly of Petunia.

After Severus had parted with Heron he made his way silently up the cobbled street, staring ahead into the blackness as the chirps of the crickets filled his ears. He didn't quite know what yet to think, but what he was certain of was that he wanted to see that other girl again, with the flaming red hair… Lily.

It is before the individual did announce himself did I already know of his presence, standing in the doorway as a mere shadow. Although a reverie had held my mind captive, my senses were all but alert; my eyes refocus onto the window, and in the reflection behind me I see the wan countenance of both a friend and fallen man.

"Lucius?" I inquire as my eyes revert back to the silhouette of the dark castle beyond the panes of the glass; still a war rages against its great walls, I only a witness of its downfall, not an entity or power within me to stop it.

"Severus. The Dark Lord requires your company," he replies, his cracked voice empty and stripped of the boisterous hauteur it had once held. "There is a service he requires of you."

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and profit will not be made off of this story.**

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	2. The Next Great Adventure

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Chapter 2

The Next Great Adventure

My dark eyes fall upon the school once more, and I feel a sudden pang of regret and foreboding – there is a mission I have still yet to complete, and it is only by time and luck's mercy could I attempt to conclude it. I draw a measured breath and my thoughts ebb away to be replaced by the solemn mask of an apathetic face; I then follow suit my companion out of the door and into the soft light of the inn corridor. Not a word do we speak to the other; Lucius leads me a ways to the residence the Dark Lord has taken up in refuge during the battle, and as I approach the jagged profile of the house do I realize what a grave situation indeed has bequeathed itself on me.

In reality, I believe now there is only one possible way for me to complete the task that had been forced upon my shoulders, a small hope that will never travel far in these desperate times. I myself could not fathom the ways of the Elder Wand the Dark Lord had acquired; in all punctuality, it was only until the Dark Lord had revealed to me what I had not seen did I recall the defeat of Dumbledore at my hand, and I realized how thin my thread had been truly stretched.

Never have I hated a man in a way that I do of Albus Dumbledore. He deceived and tricked me into his service; yes, what a fraught and credulous man I should seem, to fall prey to the lies Dumbledore spread to gain trust. After all these years of watching over Potter and protecting him, I have been brought to the plain truth that only by the death of Potter could the Dark Lord be defeated. It was entrusted to me to tell Potter of what was to become of him, Potter's last instruction from Dumbledore. Over the years I was reduced to a role of that of a messenger – I look at it and detest what I have done, and all of the work built behind the years to protect her son – Lily's son – would soon come to an end.

It was then, as I lay shattered and bleeding upon the godforsaken floor of the Shrieking Shack, did those green eyes swim before me, and I realize the time and the luck has come at last. It is true, that your life flashes before your eyes before you die. I allow the memories to come free and in the form of delicate, smoky and weightless substances, they bleed from me, and I see in imprecise shapes and forms my past: my very existence.

"Take it…" I whisper to the boy hovering above me, the voice that issues from my throat a terrible rasp; the words are loosely formed, my powers draining away from me like the silvery blue memories as still they flow from my face. The pain is searing, the crimson liquid streaming from my throat; I feel all beginning to fade, my heart pumping fervently from me the very substance that aids in my survival. "Take it…"

I see through the haze that has started to descend upon my eyes Harry Potter, who has stoppered my memories securely inside a vial, and I know now my work is finished. I remember the last I saw of Hogwarts, the last I saw of that magnificent structure in which the memorable days of my life as a boy were carried out. I try to draw Potter closer, my hand trembling upon his collar as I tilt my head ever so slightly to look up at him… Lily Evans, she was all who I was, she was the essence of why I lived, and now I was dying for her, and I was dying because it was I to blame for the loss of her life…

"Look… at… me…"

Again I see the brilliant green, shimmering before my eyes… I am looking up into the face of Lily Evans, and she is leading me to a better place. My last breath dies upon my lips, and the dark abyss of my eyes slowly close, for I am, at last, complete.

Severus Snape stood nervously looking at the ground until he lifted his ebony black eyes to the girl, who still seemed intrigued by what he had to say. She had bright green eyes, a green that made the life of the trees that surrounded the small playground pale by comparison. Her name was Lily Evans.

"You're a witch," Severus said anxiously to her in a low voice, shooting a sideways glance over at her sister, Petunia; she was hovering by the swings, her eyes narrowed. "And – and I've been watching you–"

"You've been spying on us?" spat Petunia with disgust, having caught his words, a deep grimace forming on her face.

Severus looked over at her in the bright sunlight, his dark eyes narrowing in distaste.

"Why would I ever spy on you?" he said fiercely. "You're a Muggle."

The girl gave in to high color, but still she glared haughtily at Severus, her nose wrinkled in disgust at his dirty black hair and poor choice of clothes. Suddenly, she remembered why he looked so familiar, a vague memory floating back to her from a year ago.

"You're that Snape boy!" she declared loudly, although it was more like a shriek of surprise. She then marched forth and took hold of Lily's hand, as if to drag her away. "He lives on Spinner's End by the river," Petunia told her younger sister; her tone clearly denounced the address, a foul look on her taut face. "And I have to agree about the rumors they say about the people who live there!"

"No," said Severus, flushing; he looked over at Lily, who seemed to be on the verge of making up her mind to leave. "You don't understand. Don't you see?" He looked nearly desperate to get the red-haired girl to understand. "You're a witch, and–"

"Stop saying that!" Lily cut across sharply, her eyes staring insolently at him. "That's not a very nice thing to say!"

"Come on Lily, don't listen to him, I've had enough of this rubbish," Petunia said savagely, giving another critical look at the boy dressed in his odd clothing. She began to tug on Lily's hand, intent upon leaving. Lily consented to her elder sister at once, and they both began to march for the street, their heads high in the air in their utter disapproval. Severus went after them at once, his large coat fluttering and flapping behind him.

"Wait! It's okay being a witch," he called after Lily, who turned and looked at him despite herself, frowning. Petunia rolled her eyes, sighing exasperatedly, her free hand on her hip.

"My mother," Severus said hastily, "she's a witch, and I'm a wizard!"

"Wizard!" shrieked Petunia suddenly, her disbelief shouted shrilly over the playground. A piercing laugh stumbled from her lips, cold and punctuating.

"Yes," Severus scoffed loudly, trying to make himself heard over Petunia's continued shrieks of laughter. He then managed some defiance in his voice, his dark eyes turning cold at the elder sister: "But of course I wouldn't expect you to understand what it is, even if you are a Muggle."

Petunia shortly realized what he had said and her laugh stopped short, her grey eyes staring at him; she didn't know what a Muggle was, but she knew an insult when it was slapped across her face.

"I'm leaving!" she screamed, cheeks flushing deep pink, and she pivoted on her heel and stormed away out of the fence.

"You're so mean!" Lily said harshly to Severus as she, too, began to walk away. "Why can't you just leave us alone?"

This time Severus stayed where he was as the two sisters vacated the playground in haste; Severus's disappointment was radiating off of him in large, crushing waves as he slowly sat down on the playground swing, numb from the complete failure it all had become.

He couldn't believe it; why had everything gone so wrong when he had thought it would be all right? Sighing, he leaned on the chains of the swing and let the wind gently push him, his eyes boring holes into the hot asphalt of the ground. It had been to his great surprise when he'd discovered that Lily possessed magical talent, like himself. Severus saw that she could do many great things, and it'd been his plan since he first saw her making a top spin on its own that he would tell her of Hogwarts. Ever since Severus could remember he had been excited to go to Hogwarts; at the right times his mother would even sit with him and tell him of the times she herself had been there, and she had said it had been the best days of her life.

Later, as Severus stared out of his grimy bedroom window as great tears from the sky rolled down the glass, he knew he'd have to try again later to convince Lily of what she was. He had seen the curiosity in her, and only time could tell when she'd start asking questions. Severus watched the drops of water leak down the window, tracing them with his finger as they bunched up against the bottom at the sill.

Lily would eventually understand; he knew it.

The very next day, Severus found that he was quite right when he thought Lily was curious. Severus was sitting out by the river, throwing grass blades into the gushing torrents of water, when he heard her approach. He looked up and saw her flaming red hair bordered by white; she was standing in front of the sun, and she seemed quite radiant in this way.

"How'd you find me?" Severus asked, looking over at Lily after she'd sat beside him.

She gave a little sigh, and looked over at him shyly. "Tuney said you live by the river. It's nice here… very peaceful."

"Oh," Severus said shortly, somewhat surprised she had remembered that. He wrenched more grass up and began picking through it absently, trying to distract himself. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday with your sister, I didn't mean it."

"It's okay," she said, and after that they didn't speak much for quite a while.

The river trickled merrily under the bright sun, the little minnows swimming up and down the currents; their scales flashed when the light hit them in the right way, and it really was a curious sight to see them like that, iridescent and shimmering in the sun's rays.

Eventually, Lily moved about and straightened her legs out in front of her, nervously playing with her hair as she turned to the rather stiff boy beside her.

"Um… What was that you called her, before?"

She spoke very quietly, her bright green eyes roving over his hunched back; his face was turned away at the moment, and his answer was spoken in a way that made Lily think that everyone should've known what he had said.

"A Muggle. Like your parents and sister. They can't do magic, and they don't know about the wizarding world, either."

"I can do magic?" Lily asked at once, her green eyes almost glowing with excitement at his words. "Wizarding world, did you say?"

"Yeah," replied Severus, turning to her now, a smile cocking onto his slightly flushed face. "There's a whole world the Muggles don't know about, and there are witches and wizards and all sorts of creatures, and there's a ministry and schools and–"

"Are there wands?" Lily asked quickly, giggling and covering her mouth.

"Yes!" shouted Severus in his fervor, laughing. "Yes, it's all true! Wait 'till you see it all, it's wonderful!"

"Wait, so you said world? Another planet?"

"No, it's not like that," Severus said promptly, amused at the idea. "We live in disguise. There are wizards all over the place but the Muggles haven't got the brains to notice us, and because we're all so clever. We've been living right under their noses for centuries and they haven't taken notice!"

"Where?" Lily asked, her eyes shining and her mouth opened slightly with amazement of this sudden unveiling of another world. "Where are they?"

"In Muggle towns and villages, spread over different countries, blending along with the Muggles. There are a few settlements that are entirely for wizards, but most of us are scattered about Muggle civilizations."

Lily sat still for a few moments, trying to decide which question to ask next. Suddenly, the calculating in her eyes stopped, and she looked quickly around at the boy, nearly at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry… I never really asked what your name was."

Severus felt his face redden, and he said in what he hoped was a casual voice, "Severus. Severus Snape." He then paused awkwardly, wondering whether or not he should ask the same, seeing as he already knew. "Yours?"

"Lily Evans," she replied, smiling. "I like your name, I've not heard of it before."

"Er– thanks," Severus muttered, quickly tearing up yet more grass and shredding through it with his long fingers. He tried to keep his face turned away from hers, because he knew he must be in high color by now.

Lily sighed, and her attention was turned back to the stream; her green eyes watched the blades of grass Severus was now feeding into the water, and she laughed when the fish started nibbling at the little green bits.

"They're hungry," she said pensively, dipping her fingers into the water. "We should bring bread next time."

"Yeah," agreed Severus, jumping at her words: Next time. He looked over at Lily with a sort of longing in his eyes, quite plain in the smooth ebony irises. He couldn't have been happier.

"How's your family?" Lily asked, looking over at him, too.

Severus decided now wasn't the moment to lie, and he couldn't really imagine his family being normal, no matter how hard he tried.

"It's not what you'd call a happy family," he said slowly, a scowl forming on his pale face. "My parents argue all the time; my father, he has… drinking problems, you could say. Even at his best he has a nasty temper. I try to stay out of the house whenever I can… My mother is better, though. She at least told me about everything, the wizarding world." He said it all in a way as if recalling an event in which an accident had occurred, and he hadn't meant it to happen. But the more blatant tone told of how Severus had accepted the ways of his family, and that nothing could be done for it.

"Oh, that's horrible," Lily said, looking worried. "I hope it gets better."

"Yeah, me too," Severus said blandly. It was one of his deepest wishes, and yet, it was one of the more impossible ones.

After a few moments of a still silence a distant call came from behind the two children, and Lily stood up at once, frowning.

"That's Mummy," she said, and then gasped; "Oh, Tuney's recital! I have to go, I'm sorry!"

She turned away and began to start up the embankment when Severus said quickly, "Wait, Lily! When–?"

"Tomorrow's fine, same place, same time!" Lily called back, and then she disappeared over the small knoll. Severus could hear her footsteps against the wet grass until they faded away; he then turned back around to the river, a small smile on his mouth. He was boundlessly happy, his day entirely better than yesterday. He needn't worry about his family, he could just forget about it…

Severus lay down on the grass and stared up at the blue sky, the white and wispy clouds reflecting on his brightened eyes. He really couldn't believe his luck.

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**Stay tuned, there's more to come. Feel free to leave a comment. Thank you. (:**

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	3. Muggle Born

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Chapter 3

Muggle-Born

It was when the sun started to sink lower and lower in the sky did Severus decide it was just about time to leave the river side; he stood and adjusted his father's large coat that he was wearing before walking up the embankment and down the street, his hands stuffed in the pockets. His eyes were staring at the cobblestones underfoot as the sun heated the back of his neck, a bit of sweat building on his temples in the blaring temperature. He didn't know exactly what to do with himself for the rest of the day, only wanting it to be tomorrow already so that he could be with Lily again.

He walked around the neighborhood, eventually dropping off the hefty jacket at the playground to be picked up later, the hot and sticky weather finally convincing Severus to leave it. He kicked loose stones along the street as he walked, his eyes falling impassively upon the familiar houses on his street: he seemed to pass them every day on his way to the playground. Now, he was approaching his own house; it was similar to the others in structure but there was a definite lack of care for the garden and state of cleanliness, more so than the others that surrounded it. With nothing better to do and a sort of hunger murmuring in his stomach, Severus cut across the unruly grass and into the shadow of the house. With a loud creaking of rusted metal the door swung open with a little of resistance and Severus stepped inside, his dark eyes moving over the dilapidated sofa in the small sitting room and the kitchen which ran adjacent. His father did not seem to be home, as he usually spent his days sitting on the sofa with a beer in hand, cursing at the television, or else at the local bar. The small television set was rather old and out-dated, one of its twisted antennas bent and the small T.V. screen cracked after Severus's father had thrown a bottle at it.

Without his father's presence in the house Severus felt thoroughly relieved and he crossed the dirty kitchen tiles to the refrigerator; he pulled out some jars to get deeper inside and reached for the plastic wrapping of some ham and lettuce. Severus made a simple sandwich with other ingredients he found and sat on the sofa eating it. His eyes were staring at the blank T.V., his thoughts wandering vaguely to the idea of where his father really was and how much longer it would be until he was at Hogwarts. His mother had told him of the food there, and how great it was to eat to your heart's content and never think about starving again. To Severus Hogwarts seemed perfect, and it was to his resentment it would still be two more whole years until he'd be able to go.

After finishing off the sandwich Severus pulled himself off the couch and headed out the door again, his hunger satisfied by what meager food he could give it.

He wandered along the river for some time, the sun just a few more hours from the horizon; he began to make his way for the park, where he picked up his jacket and slung it over his shoulder. Nimbly, Severus climbed up the ladder of the playground and sat on the burning hot floor of the top structure, looking down at the ground below while a brief but relieving gust of wind ruffled his hair. There were only two other children at the playground, and they were sitting on the swings, talking to each other in quiet voices. Other than their occasional laughs, Severus felt almost serene as he sat there, his mind vacant of thought.

It wasn't long he sat in peace; he heard the approach of footsteps and looked up from the ground to see Heron, who was walking a dog. Heron led the straining beagle into the playground and then tied the dog to the park bench; Heron hadn't taken notice of Severus until he looked up and saw him, and a grin spread instantly on Heron's beaming face.

"SS! Hey! Look, come look at my new dog!" Heron shouted up at Severus, his voice breathless; Heron was motioning energetically at Severus to come over, his freckled face lit up with anticipation. "He's really friendly, got him just last week!"

Severus climbed and then jumped the last few rungs down, landing lightly on his feet. He then went over to Heron rather reluctantly, his eyes on the ecstatic puppy, having caught sight of the new stranger. It was trying to pull free from its leash, barking loudly; its tail was whipping from side to side, frantic and lashing Heron's legs.

"I named him Basil. He's just a little pup; isn't he cute?"

Severus bent down and Basil jumped up on him and began to lick his face; Severus lost his balance and fell over, and instead of snapping at the dog like his instincts told him to do, he forced a quick laugh.

"He's rather energetic," Severus commented unnecessarily, scratching Basil behind the ears in order to keep the puppy away from his face.

"I know, I can never calm him down," Heron said cheerfully, trying to prevent Basil from jumping onto Severus again. "He'll be going crazy in Hogwarts!"

Severus frowned and stood, brushing his hands on his pants to get the dirt off. He didn't know how hard Heron would take the bad news, but he stated it bluntly nevertheless.

"Dogs aren't allowed in Hogwarts."

"What? Why not?" Heron asked at once, looking disbelieving.

"Too obnoxious and loud, I'm sure," Severus told him, trying to arrange his face to look apologetic. "Only cats, rats, owls, and toads are allowed there as pets."

"Come off it, cats?" Heron retorted in disgust, scowling. "Well, they're obnoxious; a stray killed my hamster when I was younger!"

"It's kind of in their nature," Severus said sarcastically, although it was muttered under his breath.

Heron sighed and sat on the bench, Basil leaping up beside him and licking him behind the ears. Heron, however, waved him off, looking slightly cross.

"Stupid rules, that's so unfair…"

Severus merely shrugged, putting his hands back into his pockets.

At that moment, the two other children at the swings decided to come over and pet Basil; they had probably been lured over by him: the puppy looked dejected from his lack of attention, and was wallowing on the bench with his big eyes. After the two children had asked Heron if it was okay to pet him, they cheered Basil up straight away, the beagle yapping and licking at their giggling faces.

In an undertone, Severus asked Heron, "You haven't told your parents about Hogwarts yet, right?"

"No," Heron replied sullenly and perhaps more loudly than Severus would have liked. "Of course not. They'd either think I'd gone mental or drive me crazy with questions."

"Good," said Severus, with a half-glance at the other children petting Basil. "Because in all honesty, I don't think I was supposed to tell you about it before you received your letter – your family being Muggles and all."

"Oh, well, I'm glad you did tell me."

There was a brief pause, and then Heron couldn't seem to help it; he burst out, "But no dogs? That's horrible, it's favoritism!"

Severus rolled his eyes at the continued topic. With an air of blatancy he said, "It's not favoritism, it's the rules."

But Heron, apparently missing what Severus had said, went on in his indignation: "I mean, what've dogs ever done to wizards, what do they have against them?" Heron didn't bother to keep his voice low, either; he was even invigorating his words with wild hand motions. "If I didn't know any better I'd write to this Dumbledore bloke and tell him my mind, I mean, not all dogs are 'obnoxious and loud', I don't get why…"

Severus only hoped the two younger kids weren't listening in and tuned Heron out, Severus's view of whether or not dogs should be allowed in Hogwarts rather biased. He sighed and looked away across the playground, watching a few black birds take flight from their perch on a tree. Heat was radiating off of the road beside the park, Severus saw, with the little distortion between the pavement and sky. Basil, who was panting heavily, had jumped off of the bench and was lying in the shade of his master and the bench, his long ears flopping on the ground. The two children had been called away by their mother, and they ran off together out of the park and across the street to their house, their bare feet burning against the pavement. It was days like these Severus missed winter and the heavy falls of snow that came around at that time; it seemed to him that each year it was getting hotter and hotter, more unbearable than the last.

There was a silence, and Severus realized Heron had finally finished his rant about Hogwarts' policy on dogs.

"You could get a cat," Severus suggested after awhile in a bored voice, "if you really wanted a pet over the term."

"No way! If I were to get a pet that was even allowed at Hogwarts, I'd pick an owl," Heron growled hotly.

"Owls are nice," Severus said in a bland voice.

Heron then admitted, as if amused, "Well, I've never seen one before, though."

"That's going to come to an end when you go to Hogwarts," Severus replied, jumping on the new subject at once.

Heron, however, had formed an image in his mind's eye of hundreds of owls swooping out of the sky to greet him as he approached the doors of Hogwarts. He chuckled suddenly under his breath, which left Severus nonplussed.

After a moment, Severus continued, his eyebrows slightly raised at Heron by his mysterious form of self-amusement: "Or Diagon Alley, I've never been there before, but I'm sure there are owls. It's in London," Severus added, knowing Heron had obviously never heard of the place before. "It's usually where most Hogwarts students do their shopping before term."

"Shopping?" Heron said it in a tragic voice, as if it was a death sentence. He also groaned for good measure.

Severus cleared his throat and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "'Shopping' is the term used by humans when they buy things–"

"Ha-ha," said Heron, rolling his eyes. "Sadly, I actually know what that means."

"Just testing you," smirked Severus.

"Yeah, you know, with all of your little wizard expressions, I wouldn't be surprised if 'shopping' is some sort of magical spell or whatever."

"Not as far as I know." Severus was trying to keep his face straight.

"Well, guess what, you and me, we'll invent spells for a living," said Heron, talking as if it was an everyday activity. He continued: "And 'shopping' will–"

"—make you groan in agony," cut in Severus.

"Or force you to have the sudden desire to shop," suggested Heron.

"Or make everything you have bought in the last twenty-four hours disappear," said Severus.

"Or all three!" exclaimed Heron, and the two boys snorted simultaneously at their whimsical ideas.

After that the discussion of the other world ended and Heron began to tell some jokes, some of which made both of the two boys laugh so hard that Basil started barking loudly again. Just as the day before, Severus walked Heron to his house (while he hauled Basil away, the puppy wanting to say goodbye to Severus again) and then Severus continued to his own house, the big jacket over his shoulder and a lighter heart in his chest. He was going to meet up with Lily again tomorrow, and Severus couldn't wait to feel the way his heart leapt every time her bright green eyes set upon his dark black ones. He was really looking forward to that.

The next day Severus was waiting by the river, his feet in the trickling water and the little fish nipping his toes. He'd taken off his sandals, which were lain to the side a little ways up the hill behind him. Clouds had moved into the sky since yesterday over the night, and they helped shade Severus's pale skin from the sun. Presently and right on time, Severus heard the footsteps of someone making their way down the embankment; he turned and saw Lily, carrying a little brown bag that Severus guessed had the bread in it.

"Hi," she said, sitting down next to him.

"Hi," said Severus, as well, smiling.

"I was thinking about what you said yesterday," Lily began, after taking off her socks and sneakers and dipping the tips of her toes into the running water. She had her legs pulled up to her body, her head to the side, resting on her knees; she was pondering, her green eyes watching Severus.

"Yes?" Severus prompted. He was looking into the water, and when he glanced up over at Lily he was faintly surprised her eyes were on him.

"You said my parents and Petunia were Muggles… So how come I'm not one?"

"Because you're a witch. You can do magic," replied Severus, his eyes wide.

"But what does that mean?" Lily asked, frowning. "So what if I can do magic?"

"So, in two years," said Severus, eager fire lighting in his eyes, "we're going to be invited to Hogwarts. It's a wizarding school," he added, seeing Lily's blank stare.

"Hogwarts…" she echoed in a whisper to herself, as if tasting the new word on her lips. Her small fingers found a daisy and she gently plucked it from the wet grass. She held it in front of her eyes, twirling its stem.

"D'you know Heron?" Severus inquired, watching Lily.

"You mean Timmy? Yes," she answered softly, her eyes refocusing on the dark-haired boy.

"He's going to Hogwarts, too."

"But…" Lily cast her eyes about the riverbank, finally settling upon the opposite shore where long horsetails grew. "But… Tuney, she can't go?"

"No," Severus said, keeping the contempt from his voice. "She hasn't got any magic."

"Then why do I have magic? Where does it come from?"

Severus paused for a moment, trying to remember if he'd ever come across something that explained why…

"I don't know," he muttered blandly. He wished he'd had an answer, because Lily's face nearly looked like it would crumple, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

"No, Lily. It's a good thing, just you wait. Hogwarts is… it's amazing–"

"But how do you know? You've never been there, have you?" Lily said, sniffing. "I – I can't go anywhere without my sister…"

Severus plainly didn't understand; he tried assuring her with, "But you won't even miss her at Hogwarts."

Lily looked upset, her green eyes looking straight out over the river. She seemed to have half a mind of saying something to the boy sitting beside her what her sister meant to her, what it would be like without Petunia and how terrible it would be. But instead Lily opened the bag she had brought with her and helped herself to some white bread, resisting opposing his words. She silently offered some of the bread to Severus, which he took without a second thought of her troubled expression.

Severus tore the bread into smaller pieces and then threw a handful into the river, where the little fish flocked excitedly and began thrashing about, tearing the bits of bread into crumbs. Lily did the same, and eventually the bread attracted larger fish and even a turtle. It had to swim quickly in order to retrieve the pieces of bread before the fish ate it all.

"Lily..." Severus murmured slowly, after nearly all of the bread was gone, "you want to go to Hogwarts. It's not like a normal, boring old Muggle school. You won't believe the stories my mum's told me about it."

"Like what?" Her question wasn't challenging. It was bordering upon curiosity and a kind of tone that was reluctant, as if she didn't want to know; she knew this Hogwarts school must be a truly wonderful place. The way Severus described it was enough to tell her that.

"Like the day when my mum first went," replied Severus, "when she was sorted into one of the four Houses, and there was the feast and the ghosts–"

"Houses?" Lily asked, her interest rekindling. "Ghosts?"

Severus leapt into an explanation, the last of the bread soon lying forgotten in between the two children as Severus told of Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor, and of the few ghosts his mother had told him about in the past. Lily then asked more about the school, and soon Severus had told her all he could remember about it.

"You said there was a ministry?" Lily interrupted again, remembering the day she was first introduced to the wizarding world. Severus was talking about a school governor when Lily had interrupted; the governor was a friend of his mother's when they had been at Hogwarts.

"There is, it's called the Ministry of Magic, but I don't know much about it," answered Severus. "My mum works for them, although she doesn't talk about it, much. All they do mostly is keep the wizarding world a secret from Muggles and deal with bad wizards."

"There are bad wizards?" Lily gasped, her eyes growing wide.

"Isn't there a bad thing of everything?" said Severus, a grim smile on his mouth. "Yeah, there are… The Ministry tracks them down, and if they get a hold of them, they're chucked into Azkaban.

"That's where they keep them," explained Severus, before Lily could ask. "It's a prison out in the middle of sea; it's kind of a secret where they keep the location. And," Severus's voice suddenly lowered, adjusting into a conspiratorial tone, "these foul creatures guard it, they're called dementors. And they're really, very horrible."

"How are they horrible?" Lily asked in a whisper, mimicking Severus's constrained voice.

"Well, I— I really can't say, but… It's awful just standing around them, according to my mum."

Lily shuddered, and she gripped the bread bag with a pale hand.

"I never want to go to Azkaban," she murmured.

"I don't think anyone does," said Severus, his grim smile still in place. He then stood. He picked up the last slice of bread and threw it into the water whole, where the last remaining fish began feasting upon it.

"Want to go to the park?" he asked Lily as he turned to her, offering a hand up.

Lily smiled and nodded, and Severus pulled her to her feet. The two gathered and put on their shoes, Severus slipping his sandals on easily. After they had both trudged up the embankment, Lily found a trash bin where she disposed of the paper bag. She then turned to Severus and said with a smile, "I bet I can beat you there."

"You think so?" Severus challenged, grinning.

Laughing, they both ran off down the street, their hair streaming behind them; Severus, although he knew he could have, let Lily win, and he didn't say so when Lily cried happily, "I told you!"

They settled under a grove of trees, breathless and panting. Severus sat up against the smooth bark of an oak while Lily sat across from him, lying down on her front and perching her head in her hands.

"So… two more years?" she said, taking a deep breath of the cool air under the trees.

"Yep, two more years," replied Severus, taking off his jacket and tossing it to the side. "And then we'll be boarding the train."

Lily picked up a twig, and she twirled it in the air, like she had done with the daisy. Except now, there was something more like wonder in her eyes.

"When I get my wand," she whispered, "I'll show my mum and dad what I can do…"

Severus let her visualize the image for a moment, before he said, "You can't do magic outside of school, it's a rule. The Ministry can punish you, you know; they send letters."

"But… haven't I already done magic?" Lily asked, her little frown forming on her lips.

"It's fine for us, because we're not in school yet," answered Severus, adopting the tone of voice as if it was all obvious. "We can't help it. Once we're eleven, though, we've got to take on responsibilities. When we're of age we can use magic outside of school."

"And you said that was at seventeen? That's a long way to go." Lily sighed and sat up, her legs crossed. Something seemed to be bothering her; Severus saw it in the way she seemed to want to avoid his eyes.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, his gaze fixed on her closely.

"No… it's just, Petunia said to me last night that I shouldn't believe anything you say, that… that it's all a lie." She then looked Severus in the eye, as if she could draw the truth out of him. "She says it's not real, what you've said."

"It is real," Severus insisted, his tone serious. "It's real to us, but not for her. Just you wait; we'll be receiving our letters before you know it. And then we'll be off to Hogwarts."

"Really?" Lily whispered, her eyes shimmering in the green glade the shadows of the leaves cast upon them.

"Definitely," he assured her, his voice that of supreme certainty: a real smile crossed his mouth, and he sat up straighter, his fingers twitching on his legs with anticipation of what awaited him in the future. "I've not a doubt of it."

"And the letter… it'll come by owl?"

"I'm pretty sure, yes; an owl delivered my mum's letter," Severus replied. "But, seeing as you're Muggle-born, someone'll have to come 'round your house to explain it all to your parents."

Lily thought for a moment, and then said, "Did you think up of why I can do magic, when my sister can't?"

"I can only guess," hesitated Severus, frowning. "It might just work that way, or you probably got it from someone else in your family."

"And… does it make a difference, being Muggle-born?" she asked, and there was a real edge of unease in her voice.

Severus didn't answer right away; something his mother had told him long ago was resurfacing in his memory… but he disregarded it as he looked over Lily's dark red hair, his eyes connecting with the brilliant green eyes that were now searching his face, imploringly…

"No," he said, his voice firm. "It doesn't make a difference."

* * *


	4. Sunrise and Sunset

* * *

Chapter 4

Sunrise and Sunset

The year had lapsed by, and soon, Severus was ten years old, Hogwarts now just one year away. He could see it plainly on the horizon, and vibes like nothing before constantly met him in the middle of the night at his boarding school; he couldn't make himself fall asleep after that. The school term came and went, and soon Severus was again meeting Heron each day of the week at the playground during the summer. Lily had not yet begun coming to the playground since holiday started, and so the boys both kept a sharp lookout for her.

It turned out that Lily had gone on vacation with her family to Paris, and the day she came back she went straight to the playground after she'd unpacked.

"Severus!" she called as she ran up the street, her eyes still bright and her hair shorter than before, but it was still as vibrantly red as ever.

She stopped and gave Severus a quick hug (which he had not expected and made him flush colors), and then gave one to Heron, too, who had stood up from his swing to greet her.

"Hey, Lils! Haven't seen you in awhile!" Heron beamed with his usual amount of verve, releasing her and eyeing her haircut. "Did the barbers get to you?"

"Does it really look that bad?" Lily asked anxiously, running a hand through her flaming red locks.

"No," said Severus at once, and he smiled slightly. "I think it looks nice."

"Well, I think it's way too short," said Heron, blatantly, before Lily could thank Severus.

"I hadn't any say on how they were going to cut it," Lily said reproachfully, resisting rolling her eyes. "Mum said my hair was getting too long and all…

"Anyways," she said, a smile edging on her mouth, "how've you two been doing?"

"Fine," said Severus simply, which wasn't wholly true, while Heron launched into a full-blown description of how his holiday was going so far.

"And you remember Basil, right?" Heron asked Lily suddenly, after about a five straight minutes of his droning.

She nodded wearily.

"Well, he's starting to shred up my socks and shoes, no matter where I hide them!"

"Have you tried your wardrobe?" Severus suggested dryly, his expression that of courteous bemusement.

"Yes! You won't believe it, but if it can open, that dog can get into it, and then he just rips it all up."

Lily giggled, and she asked him, "Is that why your shoes look like they've been in a war? I was wondering."

Indeed, Heron's manky sneakers were nearly beyond repair: the laces were missing, the fabric was browning, and there were also several holes in the frayed material.

"It's one of the only pairs that are still wearable," Heron shrugged, and he laughed at that. "But if Basil doesn't stop, then my mum will drag me to go _shopping_…" He uttered the word with disgust.

"Oh, but shopping is excellent," said Lily earnestly, "especially in Paris, it really was wonderful there–"

"Well, that's because you're a _girl_," said Heron, cutting across her and peering at Lily through his glasses. "You can't expect us boys to like it."

He then added in an undertone to Severus, "The spell _shopping _will turn you into Lily Evans," and they both burst out into uncontrollable laughter, Lily looking on with incredulity.

Heron was reduced to coughing, and Severus intervened before Lily could get suspicious, "So, you went to Paris? What did you do there, Lily?"

Lily brightened at the change of topic. "My family and I toured around, but we didn't do much. We went shopping, though; it was a lot of fun." (Heron began another coughing fit at this.) "We visited most of the main places, and the Louvre Museum. There was the Arc de Triomphe… some castles… oooh, the Eifel Tower, of course." Lily had been ticking off the tourist traps on her fingers, but now her eyes grew with enthusiasm. "It was such a lovely sight up there. I think it's my favorite."

"I wish I could have gone," intoned Severus, but his poker-face and flat voice were rather unconvincing. Severus knew he'd never be able to go to Paris, even if he would be willing. He had neither the money nor the disposed parents to take an extravagant vacation such as that. Even now, Severus couldn't see a point in leaving his home, anyway.

"It really was beautiful, there," Lily said pensively, either ignoring Severus's feeble attempt at lying or trying to convince him otherwise of his opposition. "It really is the city of lights. I took some pictures; once I have them developed I'll let you two see."

"You know," Severus remembered, "I've never shown you what a wizard picture looks like. The people and objects in them move."

"Really?" said Heron. "That's brill."

"How does that work?" asked Lily, curious.

"There's a solution you put the undeveloped photos in, and that makes them move," he explained. It felt strange for Severus, to talk to people who didn't know of the most basic things of the wizarding world.

Lily walked over and sat on a swing; she seemed to be considering something, and then asked hesitantly, "Severus, do you think… I could have my Paris photos developed like that? So that they could move?"

"Of course, anyone can… But I don't know the solution, see." Severus paused purposefully, and saw the disappointment in Lily's eyes. It seemed to Severus that Lily was relying upon him for every answer – and despite himself, he enjoyed having that small form of dependency from her. "Once we get to Hogwarts, though, someone's bound to know," he went on. "If you want to keep them undeveloped that long, that is."

"I think I can wait," replied Lily, beaming at Severus for the idea. "It's in my personal camera, so my parents won't mind."

Severus also took a seat on the swing next to Lily's, but Heron didn't move. He was looking off into the distance, and it was apparent that his mind was wandering elsewhere.

"Heron?" Severus asked him, frowning. "Are you okay?"

"Oh," Heron muttered, blinking, as if coming out of a reverie. "Oh, I don't know. Just imagining how it'll be like at Hogwarts. I have great expectations, SS, because of what you've told me." He grinned, looking over at his close friend. But somehow the smile didn't quite meet his eyes; they still looked distant.

"I can't wait to go…" murmured Lily, lifting up her legs and gently encouraging her swing to move back and forth. "But Petunia's still being awful about it."

"What about?" inquired Severus.

"Just going on about how it can't be real, _still_,even though I've told her it's not her job to convince me. And she's also been saying I haven't got the proof and that I'm waiting for nothing…" Lily sighed, but she managed to force a smile. "She'll see, though. Another year more."

"Yeah, don't worry, Lily," said Heron in a slightly brusque tone. "She'll see how wrong she was, and then she'll have to eat her words." He looked bracing, but there was a shadow that crossed his face as he said it.

"I don't know," replied Lily, sighing shortly. "I don't want to put her down… We've been really close up 'till now. She acts sometimes as if I don't even exist, and then other times she'll be nice, and the next, cold. I just don't know…"

"She'll get over it," Heron said pointedly. He continued in a casual voice, "I've got an older brother, and we used to row all the time… But eventually we got over ourselves and made up."

"You have a brother?" Severus asked, and although it was in spite, he scowled. Heron had never told him that.

"Yeah…" muttered Heron in a vague and quiet voice, looking detached again. "Listen, I don't want to be late for dinner. My mum nearly throttled me the other day… See you guys, all right?"

He then hurried off, looking awkward as he fast-walked away and down the street.

"Something seems to be off with him," said Lily, looking worried. "What do you think is wrong?" Her concerned eyes found Severus in the dying sunlight.

Severus knew what she meant as he watched Heron shuffle away under the shrinking sun. The flaming red orb was currently hovering over the horizon, casting a golden light upon every upturned surface.

"He definitely looked preoccupied…" Severus murmured under his breath, thinking about something. "Want to go see?" he suddenly asked the red-haired girl beside him.

"Go _see_?" Lily repeated with obvious disapproval, raising an eyebrow sharply at him. "You mean _spy_?"

"Yeah," said Severus, and he looked around at Lily, his face arranged in a mixture of surprise at her reaction and innocence. "What, do you have anything better to do? Watch the sun set?" He laughed airily, and then stood up from the swing. "Yeah, come on. I know where he lives."

Lily looked uncertain, but she followed Severus out of the playground and down the street nevertheless. They didn't speak until they were outside Heron's house, which was a quaint two-story building with neat little hedges bordering the house and a garden circling the two trees.

"We shouldn't spy," Lily persisted, her voice cautious; she had reluctantly trailed after Severus up the pathway to the front door. She saw that most of the lights were on in the house, and there was movement going on inside. "Tim might want to keep whatever's troubling him quiet."

"No, look," whispered Severus, motioning over to Lily to come see. He was crouching under the window sill, peering into the living room.

Lily approached warily and looked in, the bright lights reflecting off her eyes.

"That looks… like Heron's brother?" she wondered quietly, looking perplexed as her green irises followed a tall boy that looked just like an older version of Heron without glasses. The boy crossed the room, coming quite close to where Severus and Lily stooped, allowing them to get a good look at him.

"Just what I thought," whispered Severus, ducking down lower when he passed by the window. "It looks like a family reunion of some sort; did you notice all of the cars out front?"

"Yes, I did," said Lily. "Do you think Heron didn't want to come, but he eventually wanted to go?"

"I don't know," said Severus thoughtfully, shrugging his shoulders. "I suppose so."

The two edged out from under the window and then sneaked back down the path. They walked down the street together, both of them silent and pensive; Severus had his eyes on the sunset, the sky again punctuated by the brilliant streaks of vibrant orange and deep magenta and intense violet.

"I watched the sun setting in Paris, on the Eiffel Tower," commented Lily quietly, noticing what Severus was looking at. "Where I viewed it didn't make a difference. It was still as beautiful as ever, just like back home." She looked up at the sky, then, which was a stunning canopy of colors.

"Yes," Severus assented softly, "I agree."

"Sunrises…" Lily murmured, as they rounded a corner, "I think they're better, though… My mum has always told me: what meets the end of sunset is only darkness; sunrise, a new day…"

Severus considered her words briefly. All he could remember of the crack of dawn was when he was sitting wide awake in bed, staring out of the window and watching the sun slowly creep up into the sky like a bright, color-changing beetle. While facing the majesty of the sunset stretching across the horizon, Severus found it difficult to believe the plain awakening of the sun was any better than its grand parting.

His disagreement must have risen on his face; Lily was giving him a fixed look, and she had stopped walking. Severus did the same, staring candidly at her.

"Have you seen the sun rise recently?" she asked, in a more light and conversational manner.

"No," replied Severus truthfully. "Not in awhile, I haven't." He hadn't paid any mind to them, at least.

"Well, tomorrow morning, you're going to," she smiled, her eyes twinkling in the last few seconds of light. "There's a hill, out behind the park, just beyond the fence. A good place to watch it."

"What time?" Severus asked.

"Before the show starts," Lily answered simply, and Severus couldn't see her smile this time because she'd already turned on her heels and headed for her home.

Severus looked up, and was faintly surprised to see the outline of his house. He hadn't realized he'd stopped in front of it. The derelict lawn looked slightly less unruly than usual in the darkness, but as his glazed eyes stared he saw, as always, the house loomed sinisterly before him. It was always as such even in daylight. Slowly, Severus walked up the path and then let himself in, swinging the door silently shut behind him.

Severus had had a dreamless sleep and he woke early at 4:30, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as he sat up in bed; he then swung his legs over and stood, feeling around for the dangling chain that turned on the single light bulb in his room. It sputtered and blinked several times before it become stable, and then Severus crossed over his small room to his dresser where he pulled out whatever garments his long fingers closed upon first. After changing into the clothes, he tugged on the chain again and the light went out; he then headed out of his room quietly, trying not to make a sound on the loose floorboards. Severus remembered which the uneven ones were by memory, stepping swiftly and silently over two and then three boards; he crossed the landing and then headed down the stairs, skipping the second to last step. Stealthily Severus stalked across the short hallway into the foyer, where the kitchen and sitting room met. And then, as his fingers stretched for the door knob, a noise sounded that he was quite sure he hadn't made; he started and looked around, tensed. In the kitchen, Severus saw a shadow sitting at the little round table, head turned towards him. The frame was slight, and at once Severus knew it was his mother; he relaxed. The noise she had made was setting a steaming mug on the table, but no other sounds escaped her as she sat, placidly observing her caught son.

Severus straightened, his hand falling away from the door knob in defeat.

"I was going to the park," he said quietly, but even so his words were painfully loud in the deafening stillness of the house.

Severus's eyes had adjusted again to the darkness after turning on his bedroom light, and he saw his mother in more detail as he blinked his eyes. In response to Severus's statement, she had brought the rim of the cup to her lips again, and she sipped the contents with both hands on the sides of the mug. There was a pause in which she set the cup back onto the table's surface with a delicate sound of ceramic meeting wood, and then she inclined her head in a nod, ever so slightly. It was her assent.

Severus jerked his head stiffly in thanks and goodbye, and then left the house, taking the usual shortcut across the unkempt grass and then walking down the street. He approached the park within a few minutes of his casual stroll, and then followed Lily's instructions: he followed the miniature chain-link fence around to the back, the tips of his fingers brushing the metal of the chains as he walked past. Severus saw the little mounds of earth rising from the ground like the gentle curves of the body, but the hills were larger than he had thought they were as he approached. He went some ways up the mound, searching for Lily should she already be there, and continued further up the knoll when he hadn't succeeded in finding her.

"Severus, over here."

Her voice drifted from a little to the right, and after Severus had worked his way around a slightly larger tip of the hill he saw Lily, sitting Indian-style on the soft carpet of grass. He joined her, settling himself beside her and staring out into the void emptiness that faced him.

"You're nearly late," Lily said, but Severus didn't think so. It looked like the sunrise was still a couple of hours off by the look of the complete darkness that surrounded them.

But just five minutes after the thought had crossed his mind, it seemed that the air had started to get warmer and the sky brighter. The darkness was fast fading away; it turned from the deep blackness of the night to a stormy grey, and then to a pale smoky stone color with the dappled hints of indigo. After fifteen minutes the smooth palette of greys gently faded into a soft muted yellow that illuminated the strip of sky that hovered over the horizon, as well as a thin layer of clouds lingering in wait of the sun. The light expanded slowly and morphed into a delicate glowing orange, and nearly all of the darkness had ebbed away by now as the arrival of the sun came nearer still.

Severus felt like telling Lily that this was nice and all, the sky changing colors, but he felt that sunset was still a bit more to the point and appealing. However, as his eyes fixed back upon the horizon, the image had shifted significantly from when he had last glimpsed it. There was now a vibrant, luminescent hue of deep red that tinged the very edges of the clouds whose surfaces looked down upon the earth, and it also stroked the places where the sky met the ground. An almost surreal golden radiance made a semi-circle over a patch of the horizon straight out in front of Severus, and behind it, the sky was on fire with oranges and still more reds. The clouds were pink and yellow and purple, fading away fast as it began, as something far more spectacular emerged.

Slowly, majestically, it rose.

The sun was brilliantly bright and it dazzled Severus's eyes as the light shone through his retinas; it was blinding, and yet so beautiful, and despite himself Severus looked into it as it rose above the horizon, as if being steadily hoisted up by a great crane.

The sky was relieved of its warm colors and blue swept up into the setting, and the clouds with traces of purple still upon them sailed across the sun at that moment. It was truly a stunning sight, and there was still a glow around the sun that was the colors of the red and orange and yellow, as if lingering there for the chance of a replay.

And Severus half longed for it, his dark eyes hardly blinking as he drunk in the scene.

Lily then asked in a quiet voice, "What did you think?"

She, too, was looking out at the sun; the tails of the highlighted clouds were still hovering upon the glowing sphere.

Severus's ebony black eyes then shifted upon Lily at her question, and for a moment, he appeared to be pondering, gazing at her for a long while.

"It was beautiful," he murmured in a soft voice, at last, his eyes still upon her.

The ivy green of Lily's eyes wandered to his, and Severus thought there was a slight blush that had crept upon her countenance, or it might have been the lingering red light of the sunrise falling upon her cheeks.

"After sunset, there is only darkness," she whispered; "in sunrise, there will always be light."

* * *


End file.
